Monday, 19 October 2015

Why a Young People’s Week?

19-25 October is our Young People's Week! But why are we focusing on young people with cystic fibrosis? Jacqueline Ali, Head of Information & Support at the Trust, explains all!

We’re
dedicating this week on our social media to all things to do with
young people. This marks the start of a new programme of work the Cystic
Fibrosis Trust is doing to engage with young people affected by cystic fibrosis
and work together to empower and enable young people to live their lives
unlimited by their condition.

We
haven’t done a lot of work directly targeted at young people, and limitations
posed by cross-infection can make it tricky to seek views using traditional
methods such as focus groups. But that’s no excuse – there are lots of ways
we’re hoping we’ll be able to engage with young people over the coming weeks,
months and years – including making full use of digital technology to help us
better communicate and make sure our work is fully informed by what you want.

We’ll
be recruiting young people to advise us on our work as part of a new advisory
group, so that we can make sure that what we’re doing is relevant and meeting
people’s needs. Look out for details of this during the week. We’re also
seeking young people with CF from all walks of life to be young ambassadors –
so if you have a positive story to share about CF, whether it’s overcoming
challenges, achieving your ambitions or excelling in education, or you would
just like to share your story to encourage and motivate others, then we’d love
to hear from you. Again, keep your eyes peeled for more on this during the
week.

We’re
also excited about this Wednesday when we’ll be handing over control of our
social media to two young CF stars you may well be familiar with, so
stay tuned…

Ultimately
this week is all about finding out about the things that really matter to you
and hopefully encouraging some discussion and lively debate. So do check in on
our Facebook and Twitter pages this week and find out what’s happening, share
with your friends and get involved in the discussions!